BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday announced that her party will fight all major elections on its own, ostensibly announcing a permanent end of her party's alliance with former arch-rival Samajwadi Party (SP).
Raising questions over the behaviour of SP post-Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati said it "compels the BSP to think whether it will be possible to defeat the BJP further in alliance with the Samajwadi Party."
"That is not possible", she said, adding, "So, in the interest of the party and the movement, the BSP will now fight all elections, major and minor, on its own."
Mayawati said that BSP had announced the alliance with SP in the "interest of the country and public" despite the "anti-BSP, anti-Dalit" decisions of the Akhilesh Yadav-led government during 2012-2017.
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In a series of tweets, Mayawati also sought to dismiss media reports on the all-India meeting of her party in Lucknow on Sunday, saying the "things that have flashed in the media about the BSP chief are not entirely correct when a press note was also issued."
It was reported that Mayawati said she did not even receive a call from SP president Akhilesh Yadav after the alliance's drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections.
"After the mahagathbandhan lost the elections, I received no call from Akhilesh. BSP general secretary Satish Mishra asked him to speak to me, but he just wouldn't listen. But because I am senior to him, I called him up instead, and expressed sadness over his family members losing," NDTV quoted Mayawati as telling her party members at a meeting in Lucknow on Sunday.
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SP and BSP, which were traditional rivals in Uttar Pradesh, had come together, along with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), to take on the BJP in the state. However, despite much hype over the alliance, it failed to materialise on the ground.
The BSP managed to bag 10 seats, SP won 5 and RLD drew a blank in the most populous state in the country, taking the 'mahagathbandhan' total to 15.
After the general elections, Mayawati had announced her decision that the BSP will contest the upcoming by-elections for 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh alone, stating that her ally Akhilesh-led SP's vote base did not support the coalition in the Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from Agencies)
